Written Answers Tuesday 26 July 2005

Scottish Executive

Antisocial Behaviour

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any antisocial behaviour orders have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in respect of persons living in social housing properties who are known to have a mental health problem.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive does not collect the information requested. Collation of meaningful data would be very difficult given patients’ rights to confidentiality and the difficulty of applying a consistent and widely agreed definition of a mental health problem.

  Our Guidance on antisocial behaviour orders does not preclude their use where a mental health problem exists and states that authorities should take account of local support strategies for people with particular needs and seek medical advice, where appropriate. Decisions need to be taken on a case-by-case basis.

Bankruptcy

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been declared bankrupt in each year since 1990 and, of these, how many in each year were student loan borrowers.

Hugh Henry: The Accountant in Bankruptcy maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of bankruptcies are compiled by financial year. The following table gives the number of bankruptcies for the financial years 1990-91 to 2004-05. Statistics on how many debtors were student loan borrowers is not held on the register.

  

Financial Year
Number of Bankruptcies in Scotland
Financial Year
Number of Bankruptcies in Scotland


1990-91
2,618
1998-99
3,110


1991-92
5,451
1999-2000
3,185


1992-93
8,584
2000-01
2,938


1993-94
11,970 
2001-02
3,193


1994-95
3,941
2002-03
3,228


1995-96
2,379
2003-04
3,309


1996-97
2,534
2004-05
3,521


1997-98
2,701
 
 



  The Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department have provided the information below on student loan borrowers who have gone bankrupt. The results are based on analysis of data run from CLASS, the student loan company computer processing system for managing student loan accounts on 28 June 2005. The information is collated by calendar year.

  

Year
Number of Student Loan Borrowers who went Bankrupt
Year
Number of Student Loan Borrowers who Went Bankrupt


1990
0
1998
82


1991
2
1999
132


1992
8
2000
157


1993
13
2001
182


1994
9
2002
281


1995
15
2003
432


1996
33
2004
289


1997
49
 
 



  Further general information on bankruptcies is available in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s Annual Report which is available at www.aib.gov.uk.

Cancer

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of deaths from cervical cancer occurred in women aged (a) 60 and over, (b) from 30 to 59 and (c) under 30 in each year since 1975.

George Lyon: The information requested is given in the following table.

  Deaths from Cervical Cancer, Scotland, 1975-2004 Percentage by Age

  

 
Age Group (Percentages)


(a) 60 and Over
(b) 30-59
(c) Under 30


1975
55.3
43.9
0.8


1976
53.7
45.3
0.9


1977
56.4
43.6
0.0


1978
52.2
46.3
1.5


1979
58.5
39.3
2.2


1980
55.6
42.2
2.1


1981
62.7
35.8
1.5


1982
59.1
39.4
1.4


1983
61.5
36.6
1.9


1984
56.4
40.5
3.1


1985
57.5
41.1
1.4


1986
59.3
39.2
1.5


1987
60.6
36.2
3.2


1988
55.5
41.9
2.6


1989
52.2
43.9
3.9


1990
59.3
38.3
2.5


1991
54.9
41.7
3.4


1992
62.3
35.5
2.2


1993
55.9
42.4
1.8


1994
57.1
39.6
3.2


1995
60.5
38.8
0.7


1996
58.7
39.9
1.4


1997
60.4
38.9
0.7


1998
66.2
31.0
2.8


1999
54.1
44.3
1.6


2000
58.1
38.5
3.4


2001
55.8
42.5
1.8


2002
54.0
41.0
5.0


2003
51.7
48.3
0.0


2004
59.8
36.3
3.9



  Note: Because of rounding, the figures presented above may not add exactly to 100%.

Council Tax

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful appeals against council tax banding have been received in each year since 1999 and how many properties were moved down (i) one band, (ii) two bands and (iii) three or more bands following successful appeals.

George Lyon: This information is not held centrally.

Energy Efficiency

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the Scottish Building Standards Agency developing a new tool that will display an energy performance certificate on housing when local authorities and Communities Scotland use the National Home Energy Rating system.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

  The National Home Energy Rating methodology (NHER) is neither publicly owned nor does it currently comply with the technical requirements of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. For the purposes of directive implementation, it is not considered to be in the public interest to place total reliance in a methodology that is not in government ownership. Should the NHER methodology become directive compliant, this could be used to produce an energy performance certificate and would be an acceptable alternative to one generated by the Scottish Energy Rating Tool (SERT). SERT is currently under development and ways of converting existing NHER input data into SERT input data will be investigated.

Energy Efficiency

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to the suggestions from Energy Action Scotland (EAS) regarding the most practical way to ensure that Scotland’s housing is energy-efficient, as set out in EAS’s response to the Scottish Building Standards Agency’s circular on how Scotland will implement the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

  The SBSA had a very useful meeting with EAS in the middle of June and, where reasonably practicable, their suggestions will be addressed in the implementation of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings.

Europe

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Scottish courts ought to be able to make applications to the European Court of Justice for preliminary rulings on the validity and interpretation of framework decisions and decisions of the Council of Ministers of the European Union relating to the European area of freedom, justice and security.

Cathy Jamieson: The United Kingdom has not made a declaration under Article 35(2) of the Treaty of the European Union and therefore Scottish courts are unable to make references to the European Court of Justice for preliminary rulings in connection with framework decisions and decisions. The making of a declaration under Article 35(2) is a matter for the UK government.

Europe

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its understanding is of item 1.3 of the Council and Commission Action Plan implementing the Hague Programme on strengthening freedom, security and justice in the European Union (Council Document 9778/2/05 REV 2) which states "Proposal on means to enable the European Court of Justice to handle requests for preliminary rulings concerning the area of freedom, security and justice (2006)".

Cathy Jamieson: I understand that this concerns a revision of the procedures of the European Court of Justice to enable it to handle requests for preliminary rulings more speedily. However, until the proposal itself is tabled it is not possible to know in any detail what those changes are likely to be.

Human Rights Commission

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the proposed timetable is in respect of legislation to establish a Scottish Human Rights Commission.

Hugh Henry: The Executive remains committed to introducing legislation to establish a Scottish Human Rights Commission within the lifetime of this Parliament.

Justice

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive who will sit on the working group to examine its proposals on mandatory blood testing of suspects and when the working group will first meet.

Cathy Jamieson: The group will be chaired by the Very Rev Graham Forbes, provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. A member from the UK Advisory Group on Hepatitis and a member from the UK Expert Advisory Group on AIDS have been invited to be members of the group. Other nominees are being sought from the Scottish Police Federation, UNISON, Rape Crisis Scotland, HIV Scotland, the Equalities Coordinating Group, Health Protection Scotland, the Scottish HIV/AIDS Group, GMC Scotland and organisations representing occupational health in the police service, the Prison Service and the NHS.

  The group will be asked to consider and make recommendations on all aspects of the care and advice provided to those who face risks of blood-borne viral infection following an occupational or criminal incident, and the remit is therefore wider than the issues raised in the recent consultation on Blood testing following criminal incidents where there is a risk of infection. The first meeting of the group is likely to be in August or September.

Justice

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were found guilty of a crime in Scottish courts in each year from 1950 to 1997.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is contained in the following table.

  Persons1 with a Charge Proved In Scottish Courts for Crimes and Offences, 1950-97

  

Year
Number
 
Year
Number


1950
91,260
 
1974
224,947


1951
94,150
 
1975
220,009


1952
98,821
 
1976
207,425


1953
101,156
 
1977
196,621


1954
104,059
 
1978
211,121


1955
109,269
 
1979
208,085


1956
118,240
 
1980
246,263


1957
122,487
 
1981
226,095


1958
134,910
 
1982
215,718


1959
148,224
 
1983
225,498


1960
156,800
 
1984
189,328


1961
151,094
 
1985
190,240


1962
156,563
 
1986
184,276


1963
162,862
 
1987
179,276


1964
168,759
 
1988
179,118


1965
173,061
 
1989
173,593


1966
182,831
 
1990
176,558


1967
192,997
 
1991
178,965


1968
184,308
 
1992
177,483


1969
202,036
 
1993
162,806


1970
209,350
 
1994
159,178


1971
211,756
 
1995
156,707


1972
203,989
 
1996
153,087


1973
219,837
 
1997
150,508



  Note: 1. Persons are counted once for each set of proceedings in which a charge is proved.

  It is difficult to make comparisons of numbers of convictions over a long period of time owing to changes in the criminal justice system such as the creation of the children’s hearings system in 1971 and the introduction of alternatives to prosecution such as fiscal fines and police conditional offers of fixed penalties during the 1980s and 1990s.

Justice

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many criminal cases of alleged assault by women against men have been dropped in each of the last 10 years and what the reasons were for such cases being dropped.

Elish Angiolini QC: The information requested is not available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s operational case-tracking system records details of charges but this does not include searchable information about the gender or age of victims.

Law Reform

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the law on heritable succession.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Law Commission’s seventh programme of law reform, which will run from 2005-09, was published on 21 February 2005 and includes a project on the law of inheritance, including heritable succession. I attach a link to the seventh programme on the Scottish Law Commission’s website http://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/html/law_reform.html.

  Work has begun on the project and a discussion paper will be published around the end of the year. A report will be published well before the end of the programme. We will consider the report carefully when it is available.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, what information it has on how many of the respondents to the Which? survey, referred to in footnote 3 to paragraph 1.2, were from Scotland and how many people in total replied to this survey.

Hugh Henry: This information is given in the survey which appeared in the July 2004 edition of Which?, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37018).

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why, in its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, it makes no reference to the Working Group for Research into the Legal Services Markets in Scotland.

Hugh Henry: The working group has been reviewing the legal services market from the perspective of competition primarily. The consultation paper on the other hand seeks views on the complaints handling system as part of a reform process, which builds on the original inquiry into regulation of the legal profession carried out by the former Justice 1 Committee.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many letters it has received from members of the public on the (a) Law Society of Scotland’s complaints handling function, (b) Faculty of Advocates’ complaints handling function and (c) Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman’s complaints oversight function in each year since 1999.

Hugh Henry: The figures are as follows:

  

Year
Law Society of Scotland
Faculty of Advocates
Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman


*From 15 June 2000
21
1
8


2001
27
0
6


2002
22
0
0


2003
19
0
3


2004
31
0
9


To 15 July 2005
19
0
3



  Note: *Data unavailable as files for 1999 and the first half of 2000 were routinely destroyed.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, how it calculated the estimate of additional resources of £100,000 for the office of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, referred to in paragraph 5.11, and what consultation it has had with the ombudsman on this figure.

Hugh Henry: The estimate of £0.1 million is based on the assumption that the additional functions associated with the option B gateway of sifting complaints, forwarding them to the professional bodies for substantive action/investigation and monitoring progress would require the complement of the Ombudsman’s office to be increased by between three to five staff. We have discussed this figure with the Ombudsman who will carry out her own estimate for our consideration.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown of the calculations of the cost of option C, referred to in paragraph 5.15, and what consultation it had with the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and the Law Society of Scotland before arriving at this figure.

Hugh Henry: The basis for the estimate is explained in paragraph 5.15. As the number of staff in the Ombudsman’s office has recently been increased, the budget for 2005-06 is now £0.4 million.

  On that basis the annual running costs of option C on current caseload would be in the order of £2.1 million per year. The main variables are (a) whether the input to complaints handling processes currently provided by members of the legal profession on a voluntary basis or for notional remuneration would continue to be available under option C, and if so to what extent, and (b) the extent of economies of scale arising from complaints handling functions being substantially transferred to one body.

  We shall consider costings further in the light of the responses made to the consultation by the legal professional bodies and the Ombudsman.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, whether the estimate of costs in paragraph 5.15 includes the establishment and start-up costs of a new single gateway with substantive complaints handling functions.

Hugh Henry: No. The estimate relates to annual running costs on current workload.

Law Reform

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, what the estimate is of the costs of option D, setting up an independent complaints handling body, referred to in paragraph 5.17.

Hugh Henry: Such a body would cost a minimum of £2.1 million per year to run ,  but that figure is based solely on the current annual costs of the complaints handling functions of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and the Law Society of Scotland.

  It would also be necessary to take into account (a) the opportunity cost of time at present given voluntarily or for notional reward by members of professional bodies; (b) indirect costs relating to complaints handling currently met by the professional bodies (c) start up costs such as those relating to recruitment, and (d) economies of scale realised by merging into a single office for legal complaints the complaints handling functions of the professional bodies and the Ombudsman. The annual cost of remuneration for the board would depend on its size and composition (an issue raised in the current consultation) but would be at least £0.1 million a year.

Legal Services

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether it is satisfied that the actions of Scottish Court Service officials did not contravene section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Cathy Jamieson: As was explained in S2W-17390, as the content of the website appeared to include material that was potentially defamatory, SCS officials felt it appropriate to draw this possibility to the attention of the service provider. That was the extent of the SCS actings in the matter and, as such, was not in contravention of Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Legal Services

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether it is aware that the website referred to remains up and running.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive is aware that the website referred to remains up and running.

Legal Services

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether Scottish Court Service (SCS) officials routinely take action in cases of alleged defamation of individuals in respect of matters that do not directly affect their departmental interest.

Cathy Jamieson: The SCS officials do not routinely take action in cases of alleged defamation of individuals in respect of matters that do not directly affect their departmental interest.

Legal Services

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether any person can take individual legal action for defamation if they consider that their reputation may be damaged by a website such as that of Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers.

Cathy Jamieson: Any individual can bring a defamation action to protect his or her reputation.

  Under the Defamation Act 1996 a person has a defence in defamation proceedings if: they can show they are not the author, editor or commercial publisher of the statement complained of; they took reasonable care in relation to its publication, and did not know and had no reason to believe that what they did caused or contributed to the publication of a defamatory statement. This is intended to cover printers, distributors, on-line service providers and live broadcasters.

  Individuals who consider that a statement made about them is defamatory and may damage their reputation should seek their own legal advice.

Police

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many uniformed police officers were available to respond to calls from the public during the week ending on Sunday 24 April 2005, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoner transport journeys to meet the personal needs of the prisoner, excluding health reasons or preparation for release but including (a) getting married, (b) attendance at a funeral, (c) appearance at court as an accused person, (d) appearance at court as a witness and (e) other reasons have been provided by the public purse since 1999 and what the total cost was of such journeys.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The details requested are not held by the SPS. Overall prisoner movements have been reported to and by the SPS since the commencement of the contract with Reliance Custodial Services.

  May I refer the member to the answer to S2W-8431 on 8 June 2004 and to the SPS website at www.sps.gov.uk. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any agreement exists, or has existed, between HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and Premier Custodial Group Ltd that staffing details at HM Prison Kilmarnock are not to be published in any inspection report into that prison and, if such an agreement does exist, or has existed, whether it considers it to be in the public interest and whether it was (a) aware of such an agreement and (b) involved in the discussions leading to the agreement.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive is not aware of any such agreements but such information, which may be made available for the purposes of inspection, is one of the confidential matters in the contract between the Scottish Prison Service and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd and for that reason is not published.

Prison Service

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17244 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 June 2005, whether the removal of kettles and televisions in cases of sickness would meet the disciplinary or the anti-intimidation criteria.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  No.

Prison Service

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the costs per unit for telephone calls made by prisoners in each of Scotland’s prisons and what information it has on how these unit costs compare with those in prisons in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS has one charging rate as set out as follows:

  

Type of Call
Cost per Second


Local Calls
0.184p


National calls
0.184p


Calls to mobile phones – Peak rate 08.00 – 18.00
1.05p


Calls to mobile phones – off peak 
0.634p


Calls to mobile phones - Weekend
0.334p



  The cost of international calls varies according to country called and the time of the call.

  We understand that English costs are similar, but have no information on Northern Ireland costs.

Prison Service

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to replace the Cranston project.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The current SPS Addiction Services Contract providing assessment, referral, brief interventions and transitional care, delivered by Cranstoun Drug Services, will expire on 31 July 2005. Following extensive negotiation, the SPS have awarded the Enhanced Addictions Casework Contract to Phoenix House.

Prison Service

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all Scottish prisons will be involved in any new initiative to replace the Cranston project.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  It is the intention of the SPS that all offenders have access to the new Enhanced Casework Service. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-17568 on 26 July 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17336 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, what other specific data is collected by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in respect of HM Prison Kilmarnock.

Cathy Jamieson: The data collected by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons is reflected in the published reports.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will recommend to the management of HM Prison Kilmarnock that it adopts the recommendations and suggested best practice contained within Professor Kevin Power’s Review of the Suicide Risk Management Strategy at HMP Kilmarnock and whether it will take action to ensure that these become contractual obligations when the contract to manage HM Prison Kilmarnock is due for renewal.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  No. The SPS sees no need to do so. The Report is a matter for the company, which commissioned it. It is not possible to say what discussions may be held when the contract is due for renewal around 2024.

Prison Service

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the prison population was in each year from 1950 to 1990.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The available information is given in the following table:

  Average daily prison population:

  

Year
Population
 
Year
Population


1950
1,781 
 
1971
5,338 


1951
1,851 
 
1972
5,220 


1952
2,089 
 
1973
4,810 


1953
2,152 
 
1974
4,689 


1954
2,169 
 
1975
4,951 


1955
2,176 
 
1976
4,884 


1956
2,268 
 
1977
4,871 


1957
2,435 
 
1978
5,062 


1958
2,672 
 
1979
4,585 


1959
2,866 
 
1980
4,860 


1960
2,821 
 
1981
4,518 


1961
2,997 
 
1982
4,891 


1962
3,238 
 
1983
5,052 


1963
3,504 
 
1984
4,753 


1964
3,250 
 
1985
5,273 


1965
3,381 
 
1986
5,587 


1966
3,858 
 
1987
5,446 


1967
4,238 
 
1988
5,229 


1968
4,541 
 
1989
4,986 


1969
4,834 
 
1990
4,724


1970
5,003

Public Appointments

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17210 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 June 2005, whether it will list all bodies which (a) currently fall within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland and (b) it intends will fall within her remit following the coming into force of the two statutory instruments referred to.

Mr Tom McCabe: The bodies that currently fall within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (CPAS) are specified in schedule 2 to the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2003/20030004.htm . The bodies that the Executive intends will fall within CPAS’ remit are listed in the following two instruments that were laid in draft on 1 July 2005 for approval by resolution:

  The Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 (Amendment of Specified Authorities) Order 2005 www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/s-stat.htm, and

  The Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 (Treatment of Office or Body as Specified Authority) Order 2005 www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/s-stat.htm.

Safe City Centres Initiative

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it evaluates the success of the Safe City Centres Initiative in its trial areas.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has commissioned Reid Howie Associates to undertake an evaluation of the Safe City Centres Initiative which will be completed in November 2006. The evaluation will consider the impact of the initiative in the seven areas, including the perceptions of views of key stakeholders.